Agenda item

Leader agreement was sought for entering into a lease with Tottenham

Hotspur Football & Athletic Co. Limited for the provision of outside

broadcasting facilities during event periods on areas of the Northumberland

Park Community School site.

Approval was also sought to delegate any minor amendments required to the

lease to the Director for Regeneration, Planning and Development and to the

Assistant Director for Corporate Governance. 

RESOLVED

I.        To agree that the Council enters into a 99 year lease with Tottenham Hotspur Football & Athletic Co. Limited (the lease to be entered into is attached as appendix 1of the report) for the provision of outside broadcasting facilities during event periods (a summary of the lease terms is set out in section six below) on the areas of the Northumberland Park Community School site labelled 1, 3, 4 and 5 on the plan attached at appendix 2 of this report, subject to:

a)    Approval by the Governing Body of Northumberland Park Community School;

b)    approval/licence to underlet to be obtained under the PFI lease;

c)    consent of Secretary of State under Education Act 2011 and Section 77 of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998.

II.        To delegate any minor amendments required to the lease to the Director for Regeneration, Planning and Development and the Assistant Director for Corporate Governance.

III.        To note that a  separate S115E Licence arrangement is being agreed between THFC and the council to allow the club to use land on the corner of Worcester Avenue and Park Lane as a Satellite Uplink Vehicle Area.

Reasons for decision

THFC have confirmed in a letter dated 18^th October 2016 to the Council (attached at appendix 3 within the exempt part of this report) the dependency between the club being able to guarantee, long term outside broadcast facilities, and therefore media revenues, and their ability to raise funding required to complete their stadium redevelopment.

Failure to access these funds could delay or jeopardise the scheme. If this is the case it could have a significant impact on local businesses and residents. This could also impact on the Council’s comprehensive regeneration plans, which benefit from the catalytic effect of the stadium redevelopment.

Dialogue between the Council and THFC, and subsequent feasibility analysis (attached as appendix 4 is a report from Wilson Owens Owens setting out the due diligence process informing this conclusion), has identified that space for outside broadcast facilities could be incorporated within a redeveloped NPCS site should the NPCS site be the subject of redevelopment proposals (as part of plans to relocate and enhance the school and comprehensive estate regeneration proposals that could come forward within the Northumberland Park regeneration area). This work has also indicated that there are other potential site options available within the area within which the provision of outside broadcast facilities are technically possible, however, for the reasons set out in appendix 4 these have all been deemed to be less deliverable and more sub-optimal locations.

Alternative options considered

The Council could refuse to grant a lease to THFC and allow them to continue to operate under the current Licence. It could also delay the decision relating to this until firmer plans for the relocation of the outside broadcasting compound have been developed through a formal master planning process.

Whilst the above options may allow more flexibility in respect of the potential development of the NPCS site, this is likely to prevent THFC from obtaining the funding needed to progress their stadium redevelopment during 2016 and 2017.

Potential options for incorporating an outside broadcasting compound into a redeveloped site have been identified as being feasible (and have formed part of the requirements of the ‘Outline Solutions’ and ‘Detailed Solutions’ stages of the HDV procurement).

Therefore, the option to not agree the principle of granting THFC a new lease is not recommended.